[Special Review] Looking Back: Cosmonautics Day

[Crip 4,735]

 

Greetings fellow tankers! Last Wednesday we saw the return of the map "Moon Silence", sparking considerable interest and excitement among the community. As well as the map, players were able to enjoy plenty of other exclusive decorations, benefits and were even able to alter physics in battles! Of course, even though Tanki has acknowledged Cosmonautics Day for some time, it isn't just celebrated here. Today, we will look at last week's events and the day's history, both in and out of the game.

 

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Introduction

 

During the most recent livestream with @Cedric Debono, he revealed that Tanki would finally be celebrating Cosmonautics Day on the 12th of April after two years and that there would be a special twist included - the return of Moon Silence! Many tankers who had the fortitude to sit through the first 25 minutes of the livestream would have felt as though their vigil had been fulfilled by that sentence. Ever since the map was removed back in 2013, there have been tankers who have been begging for its return nigh-on constantly.

 

When the official announcement broke cover on the 11th, many tankers were surprised and overjoyed to discover that there would be a full day of double Battle Funds. No doubt many players began to plan an entire day of solid Fire/Wasping as soon as they heard the news.

 

Today, we'll be examining this event closely and even seeking out some exclusive player feedback from some well-known forumers. First of all though, we begin by looking at the legendary Moon Silence.

 

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Moon Silence

 

Moon Silence; it's the map that everyone talks about in reverent tones. A respectful silence is always granted when someone mentions it and recounts their stories of playing on it. Everyone then falls into dreamy longing, wishing that they could also have experienced the wonders and joys of this special map. There have even been several players who created petitions to bring this map back. While other many simply thought that it was gone for good, never to return.

 

But the Tanki Developer Team, seated on Mount Olympus in their developing studio in far-off Russia, heard the tankers' plea and decided to bring this map, plus a few extra exclusive features back into the game for one day only. The special day is actually celebrated in real life. It marks the date of the first manned space flight in the history of humanity and is known as "Cosmonautics Day".

 

Some players (though I doubt whether the number is very large) may have never come across this map while it was originally in the game and may have begun their Tanki career after it was originally removed.

 

Anyway, for the benefit of the minority we will briefly look at Moon Silence in the past and take a look at its history in the game.

 

 

History

 

 

Moon Silence was originally introduced on the 12th of April 2013, as part of the 2013 Cosmonautics Day celebrations (which included a special Tanki-initiated contest called "1000 Cosmonauts" where players had to go up against Developers in battle to win special prizes). It was exactly the same as the regular Silence map at that time, but with a few changes. The "pull" of gravity was reduced, meaning that tankers would feel almost weightless when playing and their tanks would glide when airborne rather than simply falling. There was also a special space skybox, full of stars and galaxies and interesting (and creepy) space "sounds" (even though sound doesn't travel in space, but regardless).

 

 

The beautiful backdrop of stars in space has not changed from the original Moon Silence's skybox.

 

Originally the fate of this map depended entirely on the community. If they liked it, it would stay. If they hated it, it would go. However, the Tanki Community loved it so much that it was added permanently and it remained in the game for half a year, entertaining tankers with its peculiar features. But, sadly, all good things must come to an end sooner or later. In October 2013 the complaints about fly hackers in Moon Silence games eventually convinced the developers to remove the map from circulation. Its demise was remembered by the "Farewell to Moon Silence event".

 

Since then, there have been many tankers (as mentioned earlier) pleading for the map to be returned. But since the event, nothing has been heard about it. Till now.

 

 

Map Overview

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here we have a map view of Moon Silence, also known as the old Silence. When the merge occurred between Silence I and II, there were some major changes to the map. The sections that were majorly changed are numbered on the map above.

 

1: There is now a ramp here, leading up to the top floor.

 

2: This simply used to be a small shelter hole, like the one in the red base on Noise. Now it is an actual tunnel, leading down into the section between the bases.

 

3: The containers were removed and a whole new platform with an accompanying ramp were installed.

 

4: The bridge construction which now exists in the red base was not always there, as shown on the map.

 

5: As in 2:, what are now the tunnel entrances used to simply be shelter holes.

 

6: This whole area was completely changed: a tunnel entrance was installed, the original ramp shifted to the north and a whole new edge was added so that tanks could move all the way around the central building.

 

7: An extension was added to the main road, but a new barrier was installed, preventing access to this new section unless one was in parkour mode.

 

8: The ramp size was changed and a wall was installed behind, completely changing the look of Silence.

 

9: The Blue base was drastically altered with walls, pipelines and buildings all changed and removed. The lower building design was modified to one with a flat roof. The huge block walls behind the base were changed as well.

 

10: The long pipeline was cut in half to allow easier movement. Before (as shown) it was simply one long section.

 

As you can see, there are plenty of differences between the new Silence and the old version. The version of Moon Silence that we received on Wednesday was not the original map and after looking at the image above you can see why.

 

 

'Farewell to Moon Silence' Event

 

The exclusive 'Moonwalker' paint, previously available for 3000 crystals for every rank ( - ).

 

Now, we travel back in time, to the time of the event where the original Moon Silence was officially removed from Tanki. At the time, the Tanki Developers realised that a lot of pain would be caused by this map's removal, so a large event was formed to help "ease the passing". Here are the event details.

• Event ran from the 3rd to the 10th of October.
• Gold Boxes would fall twice as often in Moon Silence during this time.
• Gold Boxes caught would also be worth 3 times their original value (3000 instead of 1000 crystals).
• There was an exclusive in-game paint available for purchase. It costed 3000 crystals and provided 22% protection from Ricochet. It was called "Moonwalker".
• Finally, there was a massive event concerning Gold Boxes. The player who caught the most during the time period would win their very own iPad Mini!

It was a very successful event and over 64,000 Gold Boxes were caught! There were actually two winners for the contest, since two players caught 22 boxes each.

 

 

Gold catches during the event and also the official billboard picture, shown in the centre.

 

 

The Future?

 

As we now know, the «Space» mode has been added to the game permanently, meaning you can experience the feeling of the original Moon Silence whenever you want.

 

But what about the old original map? Will we ever see the map rise from the dead in a future Cosmonautics Day, one last time? Only time will tell.

 

For now, however, we move onto the 2017 festivities.

 

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Cosmonautics Day – Breakdown

 

The 2017 celebrations were the largest of any Tanki Cosmonautics Day ever, with plenty of hard work evidently being injected by the design team. Here are the different features of the 2017 event.

 

 

Themed Decorations

 

Tanki usually never fails to disappoint with the decorations, and this event was certainly no exception. After the server restart at 03:00 UTC on the 12th, several colourful in-game features entered. The flags for both teams were altered to the same design as was used in the 2013 'Farewell to Moon Silence' event. The drop parachute got plenty of attention with a beautiful starry pattern set onto a blue space background. The special gold box drop zone was in the shape of an astronaut's helmet and of course all billboards were emblazoned with the 2017 image.

 

 

But the best exclusive visual change came from the gold box texture itself. I had personally been slightly disappointed with the Gold Box designs for 2017, but this one definitely made up for them. The plain golden textures were enhanced with white highlights and the central section was replaced with dark space and a picture of our planet, Earth.

 

 

Sadly the value of the Gold Box remained the same at 1000 crystals. However, the sheer beauty of this box makes up for the lack in value, especially when the featured parachute design was floating overhead.

 

 

As usual, we had a special Holiday paint. This was called 'Gagarin's Mount' and was also available for purchase in the Paints section of the Garage, for the price of 120000 crystals. It essentially attempts to recreate the texture of a Space Shuttle to add to the cosmonautic "feel" of the event.

 

 

The special paint's description and with a Viking/Firebird in the Garage.

 

It is interesting to note that it was a rocket-powered capsule that carried Gagarin into space, the Vostok-1; not a Shuttle. Space Shuttles weren't introduced until much later down the line of space exploration.

 

 

 

And of course there were special in-game gifts, available for purchase in the Garage. For this time around we had "Planet Earth" - an interesting view of our world from above for 1400 crystals, "Spaceship" - a modern-looking craft for 7000 crystals, quite unlike the one that Gagarin used and then of course the "Cosmonaut" - a fully-functional astronaut helmet, purchasable in the garage for 14000 crystals. In my opinion their appearance is better than the gifts some of the previous events.

 

 

«Space» Mode

 

As well as the return of the imposter map "Moon Silence", we were also treated with «Space» mode for almost every map. This mode essentially adds the "Moon Silence Effect" to the map in question. The gravity is thus reduced, meaning one can have much greater air time. The skybox is also changed to the one on Moon Silence, and the peculiar space sounds are also added. This mode can be selected in the top-right corner of the Battle Creation tab, where you would normally select either "Summer" or "Winter" as a theme. This option was (and still is) only available (for obvious reasons) in PRO Battles.

 

Of course, this mode now means that parkour is much easier for certain maps (like Year 2042) and many tankers (such as myself) took up parkour overnight. It also makes for interesting XP/BP games, where tankers must be extra-careful when using Railgun so as to avoid flipping. "Juking" or dodging isn't really an option, since the rapid change in direction will usually cause the hull to flip. However, experienced Railgun users found this as a great way to test their knowledge of their equipment.

 

Now that «Space» mode has been added permanently to the game, one can expect there to be much more players using this mode to test their skills, as well as for easy one-man parkour.

 

 

Example of the difference that "Space Mode" makes to parkouring. Both times I have simply equipped a Speed Boost and nothing else.

 

 

Other Exclusive Features

 

Of course, we couldn't get through a special event without having some kind of sales. For that day only (April 12th), all micro-upgrades and speed-ups prices were reduced by 25%. This, coupled with the fact that the recent patch reduced M3 MUs and SUs prices by 50%. This meant that all MUs and SUs would be reduced in price by 62.5% - a massive price slash.

 

Surprisingly, we were also treated to 24 hours of double battle Funds, in both PRO and regular battles! This was the first occurrence of any increased funds this year, and many tankers accepted this gift gratefully. I myself had Premium at the time, meaning I acquired 4 times the usual amount of battle rewards!

 

 

One of the special Daily Missions.

 

The final special feature was a change to Daily Missions, for one day only. These offered large (and very profitable) rewards for accomplishing feats while wearing the Holiday Paint. However, the requirement for experience / flags / enemies was much larger. The recent Daily Mission-changing update that was introduced affected these special missions as well, meaning they were even harder to complete.

 

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History of Cosmonautics Day

 

Cosmonautics Day, as you may have already learned, is the celebration of the first manned space voyage ever in the history of mankind. The pilot of the Vostok-1, called Yuri Gagarin, reward the time and perseverance of the Soviet Space Program by making the largest step forward for stellar exploration up until the first landing on the Moon. On the 12th of April 1961 at 06:17 UTC, Gagarin entered into orbit around Earth after a launch which only took 10 minutes to get him into space from the ground. He then orbited the Earth for 1 hour and 48 minutes before eventually firing his retroboosters and returning home. He was acclaimed as a national hero in Russia, with many statues being set up in his honour.

 

 

From left to right: Vostok-1's capsule on display today, Gagarin being paraded through Moscow, the original launch of Vostok-1, Vostok-1 model on display and an actual picture of Gagarin during the mission.

 

The commemorative day itself was established in the USSR one year later, on 9 April 1962. Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet Space Program, and opened a new era in the history of space exploration. Gagarin became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and a famous figure around the world as well. Major newspapers (not this one, sadly) around the globe published his biography and the details of his flight. Moscow and other cities in the USSR held mass demonstrations, a showing of the reward they had acquired for all their hard work and money. Gagarin was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, he was awarded the highest Soviet honour, the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union". His legacy remains as a testament to the profits of perseverance and true determination.

 

 

Cosmonautics Day in Tanki

 

Now that we have covered why this special day is recognised across the world, let's move onto looking at the past Cosmonautics Day celebrations in Tanki.

 

 

2011 - 2012

 

 

Tanki first began to celebrate certain holidays in late 2010, with Halloween being the point where the 'Holiday' paint was first introduced. They then went on to mark the 2011 Cosmonautics Day with a blue paint which showed multiple rockets blasting through space. This was followed in 2012 by a beautiful purple-coloured paint which showed pictures of planets.

 

 

2013

 

Interestingly enough, there was no Holiday paint for the 2013 Cosmonautics Day. Instead, there was an update which removed the ability to buy EXP from the Garage. This might have been to do with the changes in the organization of the Tanki Community Team, as Semyon Kirov had only joined the game 4 days previous to this. However, there was a special contest called "1000 Cosmonauts" and of course, the map "Moon Silence" was introduced.

 

 

2014

 

 

There was however, an exclusive Holiday paint for the 2014 celebrations. This later was reintroduced as the paint 'Space'. There was also a special billboard design, as shown below. The billboard design shows a tank blasting off into space, with a similar launch to the Vostok-1's.

 

 

 

 

 

2015 - 2016

 

Sadly, there were no celebrations for 2015 or 2016. No one knows the reason for these exclusions, but actually there was an update on the 12th of April in 2016 (Nickname Inactive Times were introduced).

 

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Opinion Corner: Players

 

Now it is time to hear some feedback from several players!

 

Question 1: Did you like the Tanki Cosmonautics Day for 2017 and if so, was it the best event in 2017 so far?

 

Question 2: Was there anything that you did not like about the event and if so, how could it have been better?

 

Question 3: Should Tanki keep celebrating each individual date or do you feel they are being too liberal with events?

 

 

 

Answer 1: I have to admit, I loved this event, mainly because of the return of Moon Silence. Not only that, the «Space» mode that is featured in Moon Silence is now available in all maps. What's even more exciting is that I just had a feeling they'd leave all of these things in the game, which they did thanks to an updated anti-cheat system. Due to bringing back something from almost 4 years ago, this had to have been one of the best events that Tanki has put up literally within the past couple of years. The 25% micro-upgrade sales are nearly irrelevant with all of the excitement over «Space» mode, but that just made the event better, along with the double battle funds, special missions, and special in-game themed decorations. All of these contributed to what I like to call "The best event that Tanki has had in quite a while."

 

Answer 2: Pfffttttt! This event was perfect, negative vibes about the event at the moment are in short supply.

 

Answer 3: Having Tanki celebrate individual events such as Cosmonautics Day gives players a special experience for that specific day, they'll know that Tanki is fond of that specific event. It would simply be an all around entertaining experience for all to have individual events celebrated in the game. I've seen players in the past disappointed by Tanki not having celebrations for individual holidays. This would change many things for the better.

 

 

 

Answer 1:  I did not really like this event, because I really loved this event! Double battle funds were enjoyable as usual, as were the highly appreciated MU sales and not to mention the awesome «Space» mode. You see, I joined Tanki around February 2014, so I'm not a 5+ year veteran like most people are in Tanki. Which was just a mere 4 short months AFTER Moon Silence got removed. So I have never had the chance to play in lower gravity maps until now. So this was a whole new experience for me, a whole new experience that I really enjoyed. And I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. It's even more thrilling knowing the fact that «Space» mode is here to stay forever. So, yes, I really liked this event, and yeah I do have to say that it was the best event that Tanki have had in 2017 so far.  :) But remember, there's still 8 months left of this year to go!

 

Answer 2: I really have no complaints about this event at all, except from the fact that «Space» mode is available for Sandbox and I really struggled to play XP/BP there. No, but apart from that, there's nothing negative for me to say on my end about anything! I'll just avoid Sandbox XP/BP in «Space» mode from now on... Overall, Tanki did a great job with this event, and probably made every single tanker very happy.  :) It just about makes up for the unfortunate latest mission update... *cough cough*  <_<

 

Answer 3: Can you name me one person who doesn't like been spoiled with many special events, discounts, double battle funds, etc.? I bet you can't ;) Look at it this way; they would make bigger profits. And every successful business wants and likes big profits, right? Just think about that. But at the end of the day, it's their decision really.

 

 

@xX_I.Love.Her_Xx

 

Answer 1: Yes, of course! No one expected «Space» mode for all the maps, so having a chance to play XP/BP in «Space» mode was really special. We didn't have a chance to fly around since the original Moon Silence, so players were thrilled that we could live that happy memory again. For me, this was by far the best event in 2017.

 

Answer 2: The only bad thing for me was that the paint was expensive. :X Loved the event, still enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I entered a battle. The Dev's outdid themselves.

 

Answer 3: Yes, it's nice to bring some excitement into the game, the events are usually around a day so it won't hurt anyone to give us something new for 24 hours. Can't wait to see the next event!

 

 

@Ninja

 

Answer 1: It was a pretty amazing event, and actually, it was the first time I'd experienced reduced gravity in the game, since I wasn't around when the original Moon Silence came out. I think the only way it could have been improved would have been a better looking paint as unsightly paints seem to be a recurring issue with the past few celebrations. The best 2017 celebrations in my opinion is taken by the April Fools event, that was awesome!

 

Answer 2: As I mentioned above, the paint could have been better though the idea behind it was excellent, I just don't think it was executed too well or maybe you can't make tanks look like rockets. Another welcome thing, of course, would have been better sales across everything, I do understand it would have probably upset game economics with a the past sales being in unusually quick succession, but wishful thinking, eh? Another minor gripe I had was reduced gravity map previews were identical across all maps, it would have been nicer to see unique ones, kinda nit picking, I know.  :P

 

Answer 3: They certainly should! Special celebrations (however often) remain a cool thing that bring many players online and give a refreshing feeling to the game.

 

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Conclusion

 

And there we have it! We have finally reached the end of this overlong article! I hope that you found the event as entertaining as I did. I personally liked the fact that Tanki spent more time creating special decorations and textures, rather than introducing old ones. However, I would have perhaps liked to see the original Moon Silence map as well as increased gold box values on the 'Silence' map, as a tribute to Moon Silence.

 

I am very grateful to all the players who responded to my questions. Thank you for reading!

 

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Did you like the Cosmonautics Day event? Would you have liked to see the original Moon Silence in the game instead? Feel free to post your opinions below!

 

 

That's all from me!

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Savage

[Crip 4,735]

A similar analysis of Cosmonautics Day 2017 to the one which I wrote for Iron Days. Thanks for reading!

[Ninja 10,468]

Excellent! I really enjoy the player's opinions that have been included lately.

Edited April 16, 2017 by Ninja

[Truthteller 4,204]

Great guide learned allot about cosmonaut days history.

Edited April 16, 2017 by Truthteller

[Taco 2,820]

Well written! Adding a detailed description was a great addition to this article as some players might not be aware of what Cosmonautics Day is. Glad you were able to get multiple players' opinions as this is able to give multiple-perspective opinions.

[Destrod 2,634]

Nyc gaid on muun sailens u pro ok

[9.S 180]

Meh.

[sharkbuoy_EN 4]

Good artcle  :)

[Spiral 8]

You did very well on this article i can tell you worked hard anyways bye  ;)

[r_olesno20000 29]

Great job :)

[maryamsadaf 0]

xd

[House 135]

Good Entertainment! Moon Walker should be available in garage.

[xX_I.Love.Her_Xx 2,650]

:) Good article, keep it up!

[RIDDLER_8 5,553]

We should have a flat map with not too many walls of barricade. A flat map would greatly help players that struggle on getting kills due to the fact of the annoyance of going up ramps. A map with wide open, flat spaces and a few walls would be a great idea. We need a map that works in Tanki Online well that can be completely different from all the current maps that are available at this moment.

[Crip 4,735]

 A map with wide open, flat spaces and a few walls would be a great idea.

You are suggesting an open map when you yourself main Mammoth and Isida?

 

:huh:

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I know it's a "yesterday" meme. I'm behind the times ok.

 

 

 

 

[RIDDLER_8 5,553]

Don't worry about the turrets or hulls I use. Mammoth and Isida is not important here. What is important is a map with open spaces and few walls. This map must be made suitable for all turrets, especially long range turrets like Shaft, Striker and Magnum.

[Crip 4,735]

Don't worry about the turrets or hulls I use. Mammoth and Isida is not important here. What is important is a map with open spaces and few walls. This map must be made suitable for all turrets, especially long range turrets like Shaft, Striker and Magnum.

Massacre?

[r_Kill_ME_for1 0]

moon silence is now in tanki online ??

[snipe3000 678]

"Cosmoaut" - 

Was that what it was called?

 

@ gifts section

[Crip 4,735]

Was that what it was called?

 

@ gifts section

I'll correct it. Thanks!

[snipe3000 678]

I'll correct it. Thanks!

No problem. I like editing anyways.